Edwards on Christian love, giving and the poor.

In a simply excellent book I am reading through which is a thorough overview of the theology of one of the greatest Theologians to have lived, Jonathan Edwards, I have encountered these thoughts in relation to Edwards' on Christians and the poor:

"He preached to his church in Northampton that charity to the poor was a Christian duty as important as prayer or church attendance. No commandment was 'laid down in stronger terms' than the commandment of giving to the poor. It was therefore an all-important test of grace [This means a test of whether one was in grace - controversial I know!]. 'And the scripture is as plain as it is possible it should be, that none are true saints, but those whose true character it is, that they are of a disposition to pity and relieve their fellow creatures, that are poor, indigent, and afflicted.' ..."

"... Edwards practiced what he preached. His first biographer, disciple Samuel Hopkins, who lived in the Edwards home for 6 months, reported that Edwards was a stellar example of giving to the poor and usually did it secretly -- despite his having a large family to support and remaining in debt for most of his career ... Hopkins told of a time that Edwards heard of a family in another town that had fallen into poverty because the father had become sick. Edwards made arrangements to have the man receive a bundle of money without knowing its source. Among his last words on his deathbed were the following: 'May my funeral be like Mr. Burr's, without pomp and cost. Any additional sums of money, that might be expected to be laid out that way, I would have it disposed of to charitable uses.'" - The Theology of Jonathan Edwards (519)

God has a radically open and gracious heart to the poor, as did Edwards. Do we? Does our church/es?

Sow people, sow and be God-like!

Super Delight to be Home but Will Miss TOAM'11 Thursday Night

Cannot explain how grateful I am to the ever-faithful Father for the safe arrival of my third "arrow in the hand of a warrior" yesterday morning at 3:25am. It did involve a pretty hasty dash up from the south of England to Watford on the train but again God has lavished us with such blessings in the birth of our second boy. I am simply delighted to be here!

Yet I am conscious that if there's a night to be at the Newfrontiers TOAM conferences it's Thursday and I'll not be there this, the last, time. What I am delighted with is that 20 of the X1 massive will be there, almost half of whom for the first time, to experience a cacophony of praise, an ecstatic barrage of prayer, and joyful overflowing giving that they'll be forever marked by such. For it was this night (Thursday TOAM 2005) that left me astounded by the focus and devotion of Newfrontiers people to global mission and the planting of NT churches internationally.
My prayer for them, and for the X1ers who've not made it to a TOAM conference, as their pastor is that this ethos will mark them indelibly with a consciousness of the sheer joy it is to be invited into, to participate in, and to give to God's global redemptive mission!

Enjoy folks, and bring back some of the hunger that X1 may play our part in making disciples of all nations.

In Him
Simon

A commentator's insights on II Cor. 8 & 9

On the Logos 4 bible program (as I've mentioned before) there is 2 really helpful commentaries on the books of Corinthians. Here is some thoughts from one of them relating to Sunday's message on giving and the ideas espoused in these two chapters of scripture:
In these chapters are
1. Paul’s overall argument concerning Christian giving
1. example of others (Macedonians) vv. 1–5
2. giving is an aspect of spiritual growth, vv. 7–8
3. example of Christ, v. 9; 9:15
4. their own start, vv. 6, 10
5. encouragement to put desire into action, v. 10
6. motive, not amount, is the key, v. 12
7. giving equals out, v. 14

2. New Testament guidelines for Christian giving based on the model of the churches of Macedonia
1. joyous and genuine, even amidst poverty, v. 2; 9:7
2. gave to utmost of ability, v. 3
3. gave sacrificially beyond ability, vv. 3, 12
4. gave freely, v. 3; 9:7
5. gave sincerely, v. 4
6. gave more than money, v. 5

Utley, R. J. D. (2002). Vol. Volume 6: Paul's Letters to a Troubled Church: I and II Corinthians. Study Guide Commentary Series (260). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.

Hope they are somewhat helpful.

Simon

On NOT speaking on 'Tithing.'

This week at X1 I had the joy/challenge of speaking, or NOT, speaking on tithing to our people. The reason it is a challenge is twofold really, I feel.
Firstly, you are entering into a great emotionally charged/ 'do not invade' space of the western believer's psyche. This is one of those 'do not go there' areas of our walk. The personal area where it is hard to determine how a church leadership displays any God-given authority.
Secondly, as I mentioned to the people of X1 on Sunday, it is a definite Spiritual Warfare battleground because we are confronting a very significant idol in the Western world. As a preacher and leader entering into this territory it is a case of 'get locked and loaded,' put on that 'heavenly armor' and get ready for some attack. As I suggested to the congregation it is akin to confronting biblically people from my home country of Zimbabwe about Ancestral Worship (African Traditional Religion) and declaring that these idols are to be knocked off their perches by the only true, living God. Some of you may know how that goes - speaking about money here is engaging in similar combat but the enemy here appears to wear far more inconspicuous clothing and one wonders where he is actively gunning people down.

My preaching was out of Joshua 21 continuing on in our series in Joshua - 'Living Life without the Fear.' Here we see the Levites given their cities out of the inheritance of their fellow Israelites and the obvious point is that without the God-honoring, other-centered obedience of the Israelites there would be no Levite cities to speak of.
Without them giving 48 of their cities and giving of their grain, livestock and income there would be no places of Spiritual input and direction within the nation of Israel. These Levite cities were the Spiritual Communities offering TRUTH, JUSTICE & MERCY within the Israelite community - which like any other human society (as seen by the tragic and dreadful Cumbria shootings of last week) was/is fragile and fractured and prone to soul-atrophying, rebel-making distance from God.

We too as God's people have the great joy and privilege (According to Paul in II Cor. 8 & 9) to give generously as tasters of God's grace in Christ to the building of Levite cities within our own fractured and fragile communities. And nowhere is it meant to be 10% - the NT makes absolutely no obligation along the lines of a percentile of your income it is purely as an overflow of being transformed by the grace of God and wanting true 'equality' for all people and 'investing' in such through their local 'home of spiritual sustenance' and hub for God's mission - the local Church.

I can only hope the people of X1 will arise to give much to see X1 truly be a Spiritual Community offering refuge, hope and direction to the community in Watford. It should not be my compulsion but a resposiveness to their tasting of the abundant, lavish grace of God.

Blessings
SLJ

Craziness

A lot of people label Christians as a whacky bunch. Sadly, there are many groups of us that give serious justification for such an opinion. Along with that I would also like to state that many people that make such comments though, really have little or no idea of authentic Christianity and make statements based on hearsay and preconceptions. Anyway, tonight I did see some crazy stuff.

Firstly, I saw 5000 people from 50 nations simply pumping with passion and excitement for the fact God is real and that He is making amazing impact throughout this broken globe through His church. His church is just the communal expression of redemption and transformation that Christ was Himself as an individual. He came to restore us to our best place: dynamic relationship with our Father God. The church just carries on displaying and proclaiming that, drawing people into that same place. It was 'crazy.'

Secondly, and this is seriously 'crazy', I saw those same 5000 people all stand together, and race forward to the front of a conference centre to give £1 500 000 to empower this amazing mission of being the people of God and showing the love and grace of God. It is simply mental and so inspiring.

God transforms people and is able to take them a million miles from worshiping the God that holds so many in bondage; MONEY, and give over that control and make them free.

It's crazy!

SImon